Databases

• MusicTheory.net has everything from quarter notes to the Phrygian dominant scale; it’s a great place to learn to read and understand music.
• IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) has free scores of just about anything in the public domain.
• The VMII Song Database is a catalogue with descriptions and translations of just about every classical song you could possibly want to know about.

Apps

I personally use every one of these apps. Some are free, some have an up-front cost, and some require a subscription, but I have researched and tested each of them and am confident that they are all the “best bang for your buck.”

Accompaniment:

• $4-$15/month; I can provide a discount code!
• Huge catalogue of musical theatre and classical songs
• Options: controlling the key and tempo, adding fermatas, controlling relative volume of melody and accompaniment, and skipping or repeating sections
• Excellent for practicing songs or, in a pinch, performing if an accompanist is not available

Karaoke:

• Free preview with limited catalogue, then $10/month
• Huge catalogue of pop/rock and popular musical theatre music
• Options: raising/lowering pitch, controlling tempo, controlling volume of backing singers
• Best for pop music or for karaoke night with friends

Metronome:

• Free
• No unnecessary bells and whistles
• Options: controlling tempo, key signature, etc.

Rhythm Practice:

• Free for 10 minutes/day; for an upgrade, you get unlimited time daily
• Phenomenal app for training how to read and tap out rhythms
• Progresses from simple to very complex
• Go at your own pace, easily skip or repeat sections as needed
• I found this after I became a professional musician, and I wish I’d had it twenty years ago. Within a few weeks, it brought my confidence in reading rhythm from 20% to 90%. I can’t recommend it enough!

Pitch Practice:

• Free or minimal fee to download
• Great for students who are struggling with pitch!
• To use:
  • Sit at a piano or keyboard (or use a separate device with a simple piano app).
  • It’s best if you can connect it to headphones so the app only hears your voice, but in this case you need to know your note names.
  • Play a note in your range (starting around middle C is safe for everyone; treble voices can go higher, and adult male voices can go lower). Try to sing the same note. Watch the screen to see if you are on the pitch.
  • It is normal for human voices to have a very slight variation in pitch, which will appear as a faint squiggle. Without this, we would sound robotic! However, if the line representing your voice strays too far from the pitch, try again.
  • Remember to engage your breath support and “secret smile,” as this will help you to “nail the pitch.”

Phonetics Education:

• Useful for singing in foreign language
• Similar apps are available for Android, but I haven’t explored them

Music Theory Education:

• I haven’t spent much time on this myself, but from what I can tell it is a highly educational app for music theory and ear training

Scanning Music:

• I use this whenever I need to turn scan music (or any other documents) out of a book. It works like a charm! I then export them as a PDF by selecting “save to files,” and then I can email them or import them into Forscore

Managing Music on iPad:

• $25 to download
• This is the industry standard for musicians, but unfortunately it is only available for apple devices (iPad); similar apps, like Flat, are available for Android, but I’m not familiar with them.
• Allows you to manage and view your music, annotate, add and rearrange pages, manage set lists, store metadata (like song duration, tempo, key, rating, notes, etc.).
• Also includes a built-in tuner, metronome, scanner, and lots of other features I have yet to explore.